I just can’t say enough about how much I really love the entire teaching process. There are the very young, the very old and everyone in between! It just always seems to have a rewarding side to it…regardless of the age or the ability of the given student. I know that lately I have been able to come back to teaching the very young, innocent and extremely impressionable students I love to teach so much. After the death of my first daughter at 14, it was a very long time, many years in fact, before I could even look at another child, let alone teach them guitar, or have them do anything that Gillian so excelled at. So it’s a very big step for me to even be doing this kind of teaching again in the first place.

I find that the right kind of lesson really helps both me as well as the student. It should be rewarding for all parties involved, and as is the case with many of my younger students, even their parents get involved, and before you know it I’m getting Christmas gifts, thank you notes, little bonus checks and all other kinds of perks that come from a great lesson experience. When the parents see the kinds of results and happiness it gives both them as well as their kids, it’s just gigantically rewarding on all levels!

I also find it so rewarding to teach those who at an older age, have decided that they want to “come back” to the guitar after either years of non-playing, or years of basic indifference or discouragement. I love being able to be a part of the “re-igniting” of their love for the guitar as well as their skills, and they also are forever grateful and happy that they decided to take me on! My hat’s off to them period, since as someone who’s never put the guitar down since I was 10 years old, it’s hard for me to even imagine giving up an instrument such as the guitar, and then “coming back” to it so many years later!

It just shows that regardless of the “path” one takes, it’s really never too early nor too late to actually embrace the guitar and all of its rewards. As a player and as a teacher, the entire process does nothing but make me feel good, and there’s nothing like really making that “difference” to someone who really needs it! On that note, I salute YOU………all the students in the world!